


Polyp

by Schwazz



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adoption, Adorable Orphans, Akatsuki - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Nara Shikamaru, BAMF Yamanaka Ino, Clan Politics, F/M, Families of the heart, Gen, Haruno Clan - Freeform, Haruno Sakura-centric, M/M, Mommy Sakura, Political Alliances, Strong Haruno Sakura, kind of slow burn, original jutsu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-11-23 03:13:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11394198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schwazz/pseuds/Schwazz
Summary: Konoha is a mess. Sakura, Shikamaru and Ino have some ideas. These ideas include adopting a bunch of orphans, meddling in village politics, fiddling around with jutsu, seizing the means of production and ultimately turning the Haruno clan into something worth respecting... and maybe even fearing.





	1. The Bindings

The mission was almost a complete disaster.

She’d been captured, but her henge hadn’t given out. Not even now, running at full tilt, with fumes fueling her. She wished desperately to drop it, but couldn’t risk being found in her own actual identity. Most bingo books still had info from when she was sixteen, counting her as Tsunade’s clone. Things had changed since then, but her pink Haruno hair was still a dead giveaway. Currently a brunette, she looked like a mostly brown blur.

The manacles chafed in the most irritating way, but she continued on, running at a considerable pace. She kept to the ground rather than leap through the trees, breathing carefully in through her mouth and out through her nose, efficient long distance running. She had a long way to go before coming up on Konoha but something was telling her she needed to hurry. Her stomach twisted. _Control yourself, it’s just paranoia,_ she thought, but didn’t slow down.

She panted, feet silently eating up ground. Her boots were unsalvageable, holes in the leather and the soles nearly completely lost their tread from the acid. Sakura mourned them. It figures, my favorite boots. There was mud in her bubblegum hair, made of more blood than dirt. There were scratches and scrapes-that she couldn’t waste chakra healing, not yet-stinging against the whipping underbrush of this light, loose forest. Her qipao, banded at the waist, was soaked in sweat and the salt of her skin from not being able to change in the two days since she escaped the compound. She had bided her time, skulking like ninja of old through the ventilation system, boiler rooms and sewer. She had killed or incapacitated a handful of guards and fellow prisoners, and still wore some of the bile she’d spat from taking a jarring blow to the gut during her orchestrated prison riot. That particular prisoner had met a quick death. She had wished desperately during the fight for a sword or a spear, something to grant her a little extra reach. It had been hard to slip under his guard without chakra augmenting her speed and strength. The man had once been a towering giant, armed with a shiv. Now he was a corpse, and the shiv was tucked into the waistband of her shorts. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

She ran on for hours. She pulsed her chakra, checking for pursuers as she came across a little clearing. The stream that ran through it was cool and clear and so inviting. She dropped her henge and scrubbed at her scalp with her fingernails in the stream, watching the blood and mud swirl off of her, tainting the pristine water even as it took the detritus away. She slicked her wet hair out of her face, letting the fresh water drip down the heated skin of her back with a gasp. She adjusted her hitai-ate and sat down to work on her anklets. It was stunningly difficult to warp her flow around them. Sakura wanted to scream in frustration. _Take away my strength and what do I have left? Genjutsu, but what good will illusions do here?_

Feeling out the mechanism, she switched her flow, reversing directions til she could feel the press of the lock in her coils. She stuck her finger down between her delicate ankle bone and the cuff, prying what little space she could before pulling with her chakra enhanced finger, even as it sucked what little she could bring to bear. It snapped off and she gasped in pain. _Shannaro!_ And then repeated the experiment on the other ankle. Sakura panted with exertion, but her feet were free. She sat, spread legged and arms keeping her upright behind her and caught her breath.

She stumbled to her feet a bit, aching down to her bones. She needed to get to her stash. Needed one of her homemade soldier pills. And maybe some rations.

She noticed something off with the scout rotation a couple of miles outside Konoha.

In that there were none. What there is is the smell of smoke so heavy in the air it’s stifling.

Sakura felt all the blood in her body travel south and was cold with fresh terror sweat. Something in Konoha was on fire, and it was likely that the scouts had been pulled from the front to put it out. Her vision swam.

“Everyone is stretched so thin, how are we supposed to…” Her face twisted, fists clenched, and then she schooled her features, _like a good shinobi_.

“You don’t know the situation, Sakura. First things first, the chakra pills, then the hospital.” _I might be walking into a fight I might not walk out of without them..._

She made it to the stash; popping the pill as she made her way through the village gates and village proper-without being stopped for papers by anyone, which set her on edge immediately. She saw ninja trying to evacuate the hospital from the encroaching flames, tasted the ash already on the wind and heard the familiar voices of some of her favorite people, just as she turned to see them.

“Forehead!”

“Pig! Tenten!”

“Sakura!”

“We have to take the terminals off of the main life support, Sakura, we need to move them and we need all the help we can get, the chakra damage and gastro-wards are already gone-“

“Ino, I need to get these manacles off, they’re chakra drainers-“ Before she could finish speaking, Tenten already had the tiny tools from inside her kit working on the lock.

Relieved, she dropped them to the ground without a care and clenched one glove clad fist.

“Let’s get into it, then.”

They worked for hours, putting out fires with suiton, or in Sakura's case, utilizing her chakra strength to hit the more vulnerable foundations of burning buildings in ways that wouldn't spread the fire, and healing whoever she and Ino could. 

All three women were exhausted, but kept going until they sat in the dirt as a unit. Even Ino, normally nit picky about dirt and appearing anything but perfect, sat sweltering in the dust and ash. Ino and Tenten had been part of the main force fighting off the guerilla attack. There were several other groups nearby, usually sets of partners, Chouji and Kiba being one of the hastily formed duos closest to them. Shino, Shikamaru and Hinata were apparently elsewhere in the village in one of the few groups of three.

 

The sun was setting, and Sakura felt like Konoha was still on fire under its light. The three girls had split up to cover more ground, and Sakura was alone. Most of Konoha had survived, but the damage was extensive to some of the major population centers. The market was gone. The orphanage…gone. The hospital was hit hard, but the shell of the beast still stood. It would be a task to regain the funding, but that would have to come first. The hospital was the pride of Konoha, a standing beacon of advancement of human life. And one of their largest money makers. It was a mecca of medical engineering, one that people, civilians and allied ninja alike, made pilgrimages to. 

But Sakura couldn’t stop thinking about the orphanage, though it wasn't her responsibility. The kids that had been trapped, the kids that hadn’t made it. Small, chubby hands trapped under rubble.

Sakura sat down in the dirt and dust and rubble of the orphanage, and let herself feel overwhelmed for a minute, until a shadow loomed over her in concern. He pulled her to her feet.

“Sakura, you’ve been working since yesterday. You haven’t eaten, you haven’t slept, you haven’t bathed. You barely even got your report in to Hokage-sama, you need to-”

“What, did Ino send you to check on me? She tried me already earlier with Tenten.”

“No, Sakura. I wanted to give you a little time but…I’m worried about you. You go off on a solo mission when you could have partnered with me, and then you turn up missing for days. Do you have any idea how worried we were? How worried I was? And then the fires-”

“You know I can handle myself on missions, Shika-kun,” she said wearily, “With all the losses we’ve been taking, everyone has to do their part. And I’ve been stuck in the hospital for months. I just wanted to stretch out my muscles on my own. Prove I still can. You should have more faith in me than that. You’re my partner after all.”

“Some partner, then, if you’re leaving me for solos first chance you get.” He paused and turned away, sticking his hands in his pockets. “How did it go, then?”

“It…could definitely have gone better. I wish I had asked you. I wouldn’t have gotten caught if I had you watching my back.”

“Next time, please just ask me, Sakura.”

“I…didn’t want to bother you. You’re gonna be leaving me soon anyway to take over for Shikaku-sama and I know the training has been intense…”

He cut her off. “When the fire broke out, all I could think was, ‘what if she comes back and it’s all gone? What if she never comes back at all? What if we left off…where we left off?’”

“I’m here now, Shikamaru, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“You forgive me? For what I said?”

“Of course. I knew you didn’t mean it, that you’d rather partner with Tenten. You just wanted to make me mad after Ino and I tried to set you up with that girl.”

“The thing with Tenten was admittedly a low blow, though. You’re the best partner I’ve ever had, Sakura,” he said with conviction, “No one fixes me up like you do-or keeps me out of troublesome situations.”

“Or brushes your hair, or lets you sleep in, or remembers how you take your coffee. I know, you can’t live without me mommying you,” she smiled. 

“Tch. Troublesome woman,” he said, priming a cigarette. A slight tinge of pink colored his cheeks. “The point is, even if things are changing, we are friends.”

“Speaking of friends, how did the date go?”

“It was horrible. I don’t know how you two suckered me into it.”

“Aw come on, Mitsuha-chan is so sweet-“

“She talked incessantly about her ex,” he said with a grimace. “I left through the window. Don’t do that to me again.”

“You’re so whiny, that’s why you don’t have a girlfriend yet,” she huffed. “Carry me home?”

“As long as you take a shower,” he said, mission achieved and already bending down to present his back for her to climb on. “Hop aboard the Nara express.”

Sakura shakily stood, and then got on, wrapped her arms gently around his neck as his warm palms settled in under her thighs.

“I probably smell,” she said, nuzzling her nose at the base of his hair. _He has gotten so tall since we were kids…mmm he smells good too, unlike me._

“Like death warmed over,” he flinches for her punch but it doesn’t come. “I’ll probably need one after you.”

Sakura doesn’t answer, already lulled by his soft steps and the gentle, careful sway of his body as he carried her.

“You’re such a troublesome girl,” he sighed.

By the time he got to her place, it is after dark. He pulled out his key to her apartment, making sure not to jostle his cargo. He carried her all the way to the bathroom, snagging a towel along the way. He even turned the water on, just the boiling hot temperature she liked.

“Sakura.”

“Shika?”

“Showertime.”

She whined but started unzipping her shirt. “Hot water is gonna feel so goooood…”

He left before she could unzip all the way, a blush lighting his tanned cheeks. He plopped down on her bed and turned over to sleep, his back left cold from where she had been pressed against him. _Even if she smelled horrible, I’m glad she’s ok._

Shikamaru drifted, looking at the aquarium in the living room- lonely feather dusters and a few sucker fish eating at the algae on the glass of the tank, a piece of black brain coral, tubular orange coral and the red, antler-like coral he had gifted her for her birthday a few years back- it always soothed him. _Almost as good as cloud watching,_ he thought. He couldn’t help wondering as he lay, looking at that tank with no bright fish, about how much better the evacuation would have gone if only they had more troops. They had had to redeploy the scouts, unable to leave the village without watchers on the boarder, but he couldn’t help but wonder about their competence. Only a few were Hyuuga, and not even ones with better range. Rearranging the line-up would have made a difference during the attack.

Akatsuki had hit fast and hard, almost like their border protection was a joke.

They just kept growing. Ninja all over the Great Countries were defecting at an alarming rate, and Akatsuki kept recruiting. Join up or die, it seemed, were the only choices. There had to be something they could do to bolster their man-power. Some way to even out the odds. As it stood, it seemed as though there was something fishy afoot. He just wish he knew what.


	2. Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A council meeting and a silly boy.

The Hokage tower was aflutter in the early morning sun, and Tsunade wished dearly for sake before the meeting had even begun. It was clear as day on her youthful face. Papers were shuffled and wrinkled throats were cleared. Sakura shifted nervously behind her, while Shizune was downstairs, utilizing several of the offices as extra space for sick beds. Tsunade waited until the majority settled, and then stood. This wasn’t the first meeting Sakura had to endure and wouldn’t be the last, but it was by far a doozy. She and Shizune were in rotation to attend these ball-busting meetings with their esteemed Hokage-sensei. The first of several preliminary meetings to discuss finance, which all seemed rather pointless to Sakura when they didn’t have all of the data from the attack put together. There was no telling who had yet to come out of the woodwork when they were still putting bodies in the ground.

Sakura always lost to Shizune when it came to these “who gets to take the better meeting” jan-ken-pon.

“I’d like to call this council meeting to order. Scribes, please make note of date and time. We are gathered here to address several new issues that have come on the wings of the guerilla attacks four days prior.

“Our first order of business and number one priority is the Hospital. We have, luckily, only two wards that were truly and totally demolished, but there is damage throughout the building by insurgents and an unaccounted number of expensive equipment missing. We are here to hear proposals.”

An older woman with heavy perfume shining wet on her neck, freshly sprayed, stood up. Utatane “The Hedgehog” Koharu. Summer was beginning to cool but her heavy kimono-sleeved qipao was still out of place, every fold and crease hiding a weapon even so far into her retirement from active duty _. If anyone dared to mention her nickname’s likeness to her own facial features, they’re probably dead_ , Sakura mused. _Prickly old hag._

The woman’s silver doubled bun didn’t so much as quiver atop her head as she put forth her fiscal plan for the reconstruction, standing ramrod still and straight. A born bureaucrat. She went over the hospital budget, the market and accommodations for displaced merchants, the damage to infrastructure and the housing district and finally the various clan seats that had new heirs stepping into the council. The Hedgehog sat again regally. There was just one problem.

“What about the orphanage,” Sakura asked before she could stop herself. Tsunade gave her a careful look. She wouldn’t glare at her apprentice in this room, but her outburst would lead to trouble later.

“You needn’t concern yourself about such things, Haruno-sensei. You’ll be busy enough with the hospital’s construction,” said Shimura Danzou. “It’s all well in hand.”

The various clan leaders in attendance shifted uncomfortably.

It was clear what he intended.

Mitokado “Seal-Scribe” Homura, with his cape of scrolls and his cowl, cleared his throat, “Now if we can get back to the more important matters of governance?”

Suitably chastened, Sakura stared at the cream colored wall ahead of her and counted backwards from a hundred as they continued on with the meeting. Once, before she had any idea how to play these political games with these greedy old bastards, she would have attempted to strong arm them into giving her a concrete answer. She knew what they would say now. She didn’t want to hear it.

Yamanaka Inoichi took notice.

In these meetings, she would normally keep her focus clear and sharp. It was a constant battle to keep track of the subtle barbs that flew back and forth in this room. It wasn’t easy to be at war within her own village, and Sakura and Shizune had done their best to be loyal lieutenants to their Hokage. Sabotage and subterfuge…a ninja’s true path. She drifted instead. She wished she was away from here. Out of this room, out of this village, with Shikamaru and Ino and Tenten and her mom and her dad. _I need to visit the weapons shop, fix the filter on the tank, do my laundry, help dad repair the doorframe and the broken lock…_ lists. She needed lists.

After what felt like a whole week’s worth of wasted time, the meeting was finally breaking, to be continued at a later date. Sakura kept the sour look off her face long enough for the Yamanaka clan head to ambush her after.

“Sakura, Ino-chan still hasn’t seen you. I think she’d appreciate for you to visit her by the flower shop.”

Inoichi, kindly father and mentor and friend gently grabbed her hand, giving their clasped hands a pat. The man who had helped to teach her genjutsu.

“I would appreciate it too,” he said, before walking off with a smile.

She clenched the rose petal in her fist, chakra reading the Konohagakure leaf insignia against her palm. Ninja Braille. _For the love of one’s country,_ she thought with glee. _City-state? Who cares, a direct challenge to ROOT._ She feigned a yawn, putting the petal in her mouth, subtly chewing and swallowing.

She moved down the stairwell, on her way to see how Shizune was doing with directing their haphazard new set up. ANBU were taking advantage of the miniature clinic left and right in an effort to avoid the hospital.

She'd meet with the Yamanaka tonight, but for now she had some time to kill.

A mop of curly lavender hair rebounded off of her as she made her way down the hall. _Quick little booger._ She grabbed the boy by the shoulders and appraised the overlarge shirt hanging off his slender frame and frowned.

“Sakuya-kun, what are you doing here?”

“I just- I just wanted to help! I wanted to see if I could help…I got lost, though. They’re letting me help at the library a-and Asahi-sensei said I needed to bring-”

“But where’s your okaa-san? She wouldn’t want you running around like this with everything that’s happened,” she asked, and then went pale. The hospital- in the gastro-ward- the whole wing had been demolished. A civilian nurse named Miho, who had cheekily named her son after another pastel haired medical professional… Sakura hadn’t been keeping up with her for a little while and felt her guts churn with the realization that she wouldn’t be able to make up for lost time like usual.

Sakura’s voice shook, “ _Sakuya_ …”

The shy but earnest little boy quickly quieted and looked down at his scuffed shoes. “Oka-san didn’t make it…”

Sakura crouched down in front of him as she saw his big blue eyes fill up with tears. She wrapped her arms around him and cast her gaze down the thankfully now empty hallway, feeling her own eyes grow hot.

"She tried really hard to save her patients. I want to be like that one day too."

 Sakuya savored the hug for a moment, then pushed away from her hold and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, as innocent children are wont to do and gave her a watery smile. He hadn’t let his tears fall. He was alone now, but he was a big kid. He could handle it.

“I’m ok, Sakura-sama, please don’t worry about me,” he rocked back on his heels, “It was a nice hug though!”

She reached down and ruffled his hair, “How’s about some ice cream, squirt? After your little errand? We can get your favorite red bean~”

“Okay!”

She smiled slyly at his eager response.

“And what have I told you about calling me Sakura-sama?”

He was all shyness in a heartbeat, blushing and stammering out a, “So-sorry S-Saku-nee.”

‘Saku-nee’ did her best ‘Nice Guy’ thumbs up and Gai-sensei smile.

“Much better! Now who are you going to see?”

“Asahi-sensei said I had to give a note to Shizune-sama.” She started walking, pleased when he began to follow without realizing. It felt good to be trusted.

“Well then maybe you can escort me? I was headed there myself.”

“Sakura-nee-chan, you’re a jounin! You don’t need me…”

“Sakuya-kun! You’ve caught me. These flickering lights and shadows always creep me out. I need a strong young man to help guide me!” She grinned. If Shikamaru heard, he would have been offended. Under a thick layer of his machismo.

“I-I’ll protect you, nee-chan!”

The walk to see Shizune went by quickly, her sunny companion chattering excitedly about his new friend, Junko, who was apparently the coolest and smartest girl he’d ever met.

“And what’s that make me? Chopped liver?”

“I didn’t mean it like that! You’re not a girl! You’re an adult,” he defended.

Sakura just laughed.

“Shizune,” she called, “This little brat thinks I’m an old lady!”

“I-I didn’t say that!” Sakuya’s face was lit up like a tomato. “S-Saku-nee!”

“Sakura, leave the poor boy alone,” Shizune turned to him and smiled, “Now what have you got for me there?”

Sakuya thrust out an envelope. “Asahi-sensei told me to bring this to you, Shizune-sama!”

Shizune gingerly took the package and couldn’t resist needling him herself. She gave him her best heartbroken puppy-dog eyes, “Sakura is Saku-nee, and I am Shizune-sama? If I didn’t know any better, Sakuya-kun, I would think you didn’t like me very much.”

Sakuya widened his blue eyes in horror.

“I’m only teasing, Sakuya-kun.” Shizune quieted her sadist heart and opened the envelope.

“It’s… a love poem.”

“ _Read it to me_ ,” said Sakura.

“No. I’ve treated three ANBU today each had a rather challenging bit of bodily harm for me to deal with.”

“Flawless change of subject as usual, Shizune. I see you’re trying to get rid of me” Sakura rolled her eyes and put a hand on her favorite curly lavender mop, “Ne, Sakuya-kun, let’s go get you that ice cream. You’ve been a good sport today.”

“Will you get the taro so we can share?”

“If I get the taro, you know Shikamaru will be jealous.”

Sakuya merely mirrored her sly grin.

Ice cream wasn't enough, but Sakura privately hoped that it would be a good start. She would make it up to Miho somehow, even if the woman's admiration had been misplaced. Sakura would be there for her son if he needed her. She promised.

She wouldn't fail her friends again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but we must introduce adorable orphan #1 and give a little bit of an introduction to our bad old people.
> 
> As a late mention, some characters will be OOC, in the sense that there wasn't much to them to start off with and will now be made more interesting.


	3. Colony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this episode, Sakura does some surgery, eats some dinner, and splashes around in her fish tank.

 

Sakura arrived at the hospital early in the morning to an intense poison removal surgery for an ANBU operative. As per usual, the team that brought him in insisted on the most heavily guarded room: room seventeen. They stood outside the room like hummingbirds, the two full of energy and unable to accept regular chuunin guard.

One of the chuunin, a civilian-born bruiser by the name of Hikaru shook her knuckle-dustered fist at the encroaching masked figures.

“You bastards can’t hang around here getting underfoot of everyone with a job to do, you know better than that! Aren’t you people the ones who hide from medics anyway?” She spat. “Go report to the Hokage and actually be of help somewhere.”

“We can’t report to Hokage-sama without our leader. You’re just a little civvy anyway, what’s it matter if we wait here or outside? Not like you could do anything about it.”

“Bull-san, please calm down or leave before Owl-kun’s injuries become worse,” Sakura said with steel.

His body language gave away his hesitance, but he gave in and dragged off his comrade, a small woman with a lizard mask.

Hikaru huffed as they left, grudgingly looking over their shoulders with facial expression hidden behind their masks but annoyance evident in their slow departure.

“Clan-born are the worst-“

“Shhhhh. We’ve had this discussion before, Hikaru, and we will definitely have to talk later about antagonizing shinobi coming back from missions. Bull-san is just worried about Owl-kun.” She snapped on her gloves and reached for the water. “It’s not often they come directly here. They love to stew on their injuries.”

“Hmmm…What I’m most concerned about is that they said poison when this is clearly a bite. Venom and poison are very different. How could they make such a rudimentary mistake?”

She worked the water through the gaping holes on Owl-kun’s flank and extracted about a quarter of the venom. She raised her eyebrows. _What kind of animal could have delivered such a virulent but sticky payload? Especially by manner of teeth. It’s like it’s clinging._ She paused, touching the filleted meat of his side with methodical probing fingers cloaked in diagnostic chakra. _No, it’s not fangs. These punctures were made with a serrated edge that mimicked fangs._

_No wonder they thought it was poison,_ she thought _. The chemical compound breaks down quicker with venom than poison so most shinobi don’t bother with it…Who could have biologically engineered venom that would keep its potency?_

It took her several passes of different basins of water, hot and cool alike, just to see if it would make a difference in this strange venom’s extraction. The warmer water helped let it keep its potency, but the compound’s viscosity broke down somewhat faster than in the cool water. _How curious, especially when considering that the cool water is slightly below the average ninja’s body temperature. Is it the use of chakra that propagates it? Or is it just simple blood flow?_

_I’ll have to play with it a bit in the lab,_ she thought, and removed what she could of the water from the sample with a swimming motion.

With the venom removed, she had the room clear out with a quick hand sign. She removed the mask from Hyuuga Neji’s clammy and drawn face. She continued her examination with one hand, sewing up his side with quick and her signature perfectly controlled chakra stitching. The flesh knitting together under her warm hand was always so satisfying, but he was gaunter now than she had ever seen him and with so little fat on his body that she worried the healing might exhaust him. The skin under his eyes a dark purple from visible veins, strained from overuse. His bite finally sealed, she gently, carefully, flushed a little bit of chakra into the pathways in his eyes, waiting to see if there would be any pupil distortion in his unconscious state.

His eyes reacted normally and she set about easing the strain.

Technically, she wasn’t allowed to do this. No one could tamper with the Byakugan, but she knew the ways underneath his asshole of a seal. Her patient had never snitched on her before.

She didn’t give a damn, and when Neji woke up tomorrow, neither would he.

She stopped just short of a perfect heal on the eyes. He would know the difference it made to be healed by her, but no one else would know the magnitude of what she had really done for him.

She panted a bit from the exertion of healing doujutsu, closed up his mask, and signaled for her assistant to move him. She had other people to fix.

“Hikaru-chan, let’s have that talk now,” Sakura said as she signaled her other assistant, Akimichi Micheru to come in.

“Mou, Sakura-sensei!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Sakura arrived that night very promptly at the Yamanaka compound for her special little dinner.

Since the beginning of recorded clan history, before the founding of Konoha, when families were the ticket to survival in a nomadic, backstabbing ninja world, the Yamanaka had always sensed the change coming on the horizon. In the insular world of clan politics, they had their fingers in every pie, and when they weren’t manipulating events to their favor, they were feeding knowledge to the Nara.

The Nara acted as commanders and advisors even then, and while most outside Fire Country had limited knowledge of them, what they did know was purposeful and released carefully. If the Yamanaka were disseminating knowledge, ever the spreading webs, then the Nara were the spider itself. They chose which strings to strike, what prey to cull. There were always Nara in the Twelve Guardian Ninja at the Fire daimyo’s court.

What then, did that make the Akimichi? They were the foundation the web was built upon. Akimichi refers to an autumn road, full of vendors during harvest and when one thought Akimichi, they thought of food, of heavy-set bodyguards and of wealth. Akimichi safe guarded goods and had extensive knowledge contained within ninja scrolls.  And while they were not the absolute top merchant business in Konoha-or even considered the top ninja clan in terms of raw manpower- in the days of widespread skirmishes, they were one of the few clans able to do what had previously been thought impossible: turn a merchant clan into a powerful ninja force.

Say what you want about the Hyuuga or Uchiha: while very strong in a very personal, man by man basis and their traditional ties to Konoha were among the most powerful, the Nara, the Yamanaka, and the Akimichi were the true powerhouses running Konohagakure. There was a reason that cooperation was so prized by the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and they were that reason. The hidden hand is often the most powerful in the ninja world and those who could see underneath the underneath knew that well.

In the council, the three clan heads often voted as a unit, and while the consensus among the civilian population was that the voting block was due to their placement as genin and the continued tradition of Ino-Shika-Cho, the truth is that the association of the triad began before the advent of chakra.

 

And so it was no surprise to Sakura that the clandestine meeting would be a meeting of clan heads and not simple conspiring with her and the Yamanaka alone. It was par for the course when dealing with any of the three that the others would join. The clan heads each rose to greet Sakura warmly, Shikaku patting her on the head gently. Shikamaru and Ino sat to the right of their fathers, and Chouji had chosen to sit to the right of Ino. They held hands under the table, only keeping barely to the appearance of discreetness for the sake of their doting fathers. Sakura smiled at them and though she knew her clan wasn’t one considered worthy to parlay with theirs, Haruno long ago being a civilian clan with farming ties, she had made a name for herself long ago beyond that of a family friend. She was a force to be reckoned with on her own merit.

She pulled at the sleeve of her kimono, her obi tied in a way that was appropriate for a woman of her stature, delicate knots propping the bow in such a way that denoted her status as an independent, mature woman. On the one hand, it was a declaration of her single-dom, and on the other hand, she was very loosely representing her family. As Kizashi had retired to be with Mebuki in the hopes of trying for another child, Sakura was by technicality clan head. The family had never dwelled on their landed wealth, but she still had to dress the part for these occasions.

“We are so pleased that you would come and join us for dinner this evening, Sakura-chan! It is not often that we can all sit and dine together, “said Inoichi with his usual paternal smile.

Shikaku chuckled, “Our kids love to run off on their own, don’t they?

“We were the same at that age, though,” said Chouza.

“Thank you for having me,” she said in lieu of a defense, and sat across from Shikamaru at the table in perfect elegant seiza. _Wish it was a western table. Then I could bother him with some footsie._

No one but thoroughly vetted civilian members of the families would be serving them tonight. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t start off without their usual rounds of beating around the bush. Ninja would not be ninja without a little double-speak.

“How are you, Sakura? You’ve been rather busy since you got back from your mission.”

“I’m well, Inoichi-san,” she said with a smile. “I have barely been able to leave the hospital, same as Shizune-san. We have been trading off meetings to support Tsunade-sensei, but both of us are a little drained. It’s relaxing to be with family. My parents wish to send their regards and apologize for their absence. My mother’s pregnancy is rather harsh on her this time around.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I noticed that you gained a little helper,” said Shikamaru.

Sakura looked down at the cup of tea placed before her and sighed. “He’s Miho-chan’s son.”

“Ah.”

“He gets in the way a bit more than necessary, I’ll admit. But his resilience keeps me up and fighting the exhaustion. He’s a good, sweet boy. The other kids are downright mean, calling him Sakuyahime and making fun of him even though he just lost his mother. He ignores them better than I ever could.” She took a sip. “He wants to be a medic like his mom, but a ninja like me.”

“It will be hard for him.”

“Work has been tough lately here too. Could use a helper of my own,” Chouza said, abruptly beginning the game. _The council isn’t paying as much attention to the sway of the clans._ From this, she gathered that Danzou was doing what he wanted. _Without paying attention to the checks and balances._ They wanted her to step in?

“Yes, and while you were gone, my Ino-chan has had to pick up some of the slack from the hospital. There is also talk of forcing Shizune into active duty regardless of the pressure.” _They want her out of the council room and in the line of fire. They want to eliminate Tsunade’s support system so they don’t even have to pretend to listen anymore._

Shikaku sipped his tea and looked at Sakura pointedly. _They didn’t think you would be coming back from your mission for a long while, if at all._

“How strange! They would barely let me out of the hospital for the last few months if it were not for that last mission.” _Tsunade’s faction has a stranglehold on Konoha’s biggest money maker and most important piece of land. She made it what it is and while they resent her, they couldn’t possibly make it work so well without her._

Inoichi nodded, placed his hand on Ino’s shoulder and said, “If those old coots think they can separate a father and daughter, they’ve got another thing coming!” _They are trying to see if Ino would be open to their agenda._

“Ino-chan is very capable, I don’t blame them for wanting to snatch her up,” Sakura winked.

Ino smirked, “Tsunade trained me well.” _You know I want to play them for fools._

“Jutsu thief.”

And suddenly the subtle hints of treason were derailed, and it was a dinner between family members and friends.

“I know you’re not referring to Tsunade-sensei’s esteemed tutelage, Sakura,” she said playfully. “Just because we Yamanaka are good at mind walking doesn’t mean we are taking any jutsu with us!”

Yamanaka Inoichi looked away innocently.

“Says the girl who took over Torture and Interrogation just to get new jutsu.”

“Says the girl who was in a team with the infamous Copy-Nin. If anyone has stolen jutsu it’s you!”

They both laughed, both knowing damn well they had long ago swapped said stolen jutsu.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. “I almost miss when you girls were constantly competing. At least it was predictable. It’s a little scary when you get along.”

Sakura and Ino giggled, unable to keep the grins off their faces.

The servers took this as cue to bring out their meals.

They settled down and began to eat, and Sakura couldn’t help but throw a few glances at Shikamaru. She wanted to know the exact time he would take over for Shikaku. He looked so austere in his navy formalwear, the Nara symbol surely a brand on his back. She couldn’t help but feel like the clock was ticking for him, that the days of easily coming to each other’s rescue would be few and far in between.

Sakura mentally shook herself from the thought. The Nara were not like the Hyuuga. The demands were different. The responsibilities were different. Still important, but different. He would not know the same kinds of pressures as Hinata, Hinabi and Neji. And if he did, if any of them did, she would be there to help.

Sakura smiled into her rice.

 

* * *

 

 

After a long dinner in a stifling hot room, Sakura came home to a cold, empty apartment. It was almost refreshing after the constant socialization of the hospital-and even the meeting which she had looked forward to. She kicked off her shoes in the peace and quiet, savoring the way they thudded on the wood. Ninja were supposed to be silent, but she would never stop liking the noises of coming home. She slung her drawstring purse over her couch, and watched it tumble over the lip of the seat. She followed it, rolling over the back of the couch.

She looked over at her aquarium, watched the happy little sucker fish cling to the glass with suction mouths and noticed her red coral looking a bit worse for wear. It was graying in patches, beginning to calcify. Remembering years ago, her many failed surgeries on fish, she smiled. When she laid her hands on anything now, she rarely failed a surgery. There would be no hurt fish on her watch. She threaded chakra in her finger tips, ever so delicate, and stroked the vibrant flesh of Shikamaru’s gift- red, her favorite color. Auspicious aquatic antlers alit with chakra.

It was very different from fish. A million simple little chakra flares of life under her Mystical Palm. In all her time with the tank, she had never done this; never felt the life in the stagnant rock-like things. The little buds- there were so many- didn’t feel like a plant, didn’t feel like any animal she had experimented her jutsu on…The polyps bloomed under her fingers and color returned to the dimmer areas.

She removed her hand, the coral healed. She wiped her hand on a nearby towel and frowned in thought. There was potential here.

Limestone was an incredible building material, one that was hard to get in the Fire Country. If she could somehow make coral spread through chakra- perhaps utilizing certain chakra fertility treatments - she would have a very lucrative opportunity. One that might lead to reconstructing the broken buildings in Konoha. She wouldn’t be creating something from nothing or forcing growth, but prompting asexual reproduction. Not really any sort of pollination.

While Sakura didn’t think she was capable of ever powering anything like the Mokuton, she had invented jutsu before. Most of the “clanless” had to in order to stay relevant in a world in which you either carried traditional techniques or none going into genin and even chunin-hood. Nepotism ran rampant amongst shinobi and the Hyuuga suffered the worst for it, choosing only to use their bloodline limit style. A Hyuuga could be deadly with traps and ranged chakra explosives, but their clan pride would never allow them to really utilize much other than Gentle Fist. She knew who to talk to next.

Tenten.

For years they had manipulated doton together on large scales to clear evidence. Their chakra was strangely compatible, something they’d found through training and experimentation. Most ninja didn’t pay attention to synergy in jutsu in this way. A futon empowered a katon, but Tenten and Sakura had found that when they linked up, they had a larger chakra pool than either would separately. Genjutsu traps lasted for weeks instead of hours. They’d made large scale campsites appear and vanish in an instant. And while doton constructs were basically only dirt, it was possible to utilize stone with enough control, of which Sakura was a genius. Tenten set the foundations, created a flow, and Sakura built the waterwheel around and through it.

Sakura got ready for bed, thinking about the kind of chakra output required. It would be one thing to push the coral to grow in a chakra bubble, but would she be able to retract? How quickly could she calcify a piece? Could she augment the strength to form a chakra weapon stronger than steel?

She fell asleep to the calculations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, If anyone has any ideas for jutsu, please let me know. I've got some ideas written down but would love new insight. A good shinobi can make effective use of any and all jutsu, no matter how small!


	4. Symbiosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some training, some talking, and some more hospital.

Tenten was busy- always busy, now- but had stammered out a promise in her usual girl-on-the-go manner that if she finished her current job quick enough, she would be by later in the day to see what it was Sakura wanted to do with the experimentation. Restoration was slow going and no one in Konoha would feel safe until the section of wall that had been torn down in the raid was restored. _Doton can only do so much_. _I wonder if anyone would believe in walls ever again after that._

Chakra was capable of so much. It was a shame that the most jutsu that were used were destructive. There was so much potential for art and architecture and performance, but it was ignored in favor of war. Sakura had been on so many diplomatic missions, hoping to foster some sense of comradery between countries with Shikamaru at her side. He hadn’t been her foremost mission partner for some years since but some things never changed. Just like the mistrust between villages. Some days it seemed as though Suna was their only staunch ally. It was no secret that the Kazekage waited for the man who broke through to him as a child to rise to meet him.

In many ways she still considered herself to be that paper ninja she was always accused of being from her Academy days and she had long ago given up on seeing it in a negative light. Theoretical, practical, logical, objective. Those were the things she tried her hardest to be.

Unfortunately she would never be able to ditch her hair trigger temper. But it was another link to Tsunade-shishou, so was it really all that bad?

In the meantime, Sakura had dragged a secondary tank with a new piece of coral to the verdant and shady training ground seven. The wind trailed its fingers through her hair in one of the rare breezier days that Konoha received in this part of the year. In the dying heat of summer, there was little she could say she enjoyed more than that rare trickle of wind.

Sequestered in the roots of a tree, she sat cross legged in a meditative stance. She had tucked her leather gloves in her pocket and held the little red fan in as small a globe of water as she dared between bare hands. She traced the organism as gently as she would the chakra pathways of a newborn. It was flat but with a delicate, almost lacey appearance. She thought of Tenten and her month of extreme fan wielding in an effort to beat Temari at her own game.

She frowned at the lump as sweat dripped from her forehead and spiraled her chakra into it, dipping into the organism’s pathways in a pattern that would hopefully best build on the polyps. Globs of chakra building on globs of chakra was how it appeared at the surface, each tiny polyp had its own tiny network but it was slightly more complicated to push the thing to growth.  Knitting cells together and repairing ruptured ones was different than forcing new life to form, but she had had plenty of practice. Sakura was a demon of hard work in a way that few of her generation could match, save Rock Lee.

The light of the setting sun filtered through the trees, baking the earth under each touch of long golden fingers.

A whisper of wind set one of those shafts of light on the orb and cast reflections of the water on her cross legged lap. With one hand, she began separating the little fan away from the water. The little coral continued on, treating her chakra as oxygen enriched water, floating under an artificial current of her creation to match the wind. She felt a new polyp burst to life under her fingertip and had to contain her excitement.

For some reason, it was easier to heal a fish than a tree. Haruno Sakura could lay her hands on anything and heal it, but organisms that were more complex ate through medical chakra differently.

Medical chakra was by and far the most versatile of chakra manipulations but it always got a bad rap. Healers had the most expectations and the least. Healers had to be patient, had to know their limits better than anyone, had to know a thousand times more ways to break than to mend.

Sakura calcified the whole piece and set to see if she could bring it back to life. The polyp she had made under her index finger sprung back quickly, but the rest of the coral was useless. She threw the rock she had created to the side when she felt that one little piece of life slide away.

She didn’t know if she would really be able to do more with this in combat than an ever growing weapon or maybe some sort of sealed defense technique?

This was more progress than she had thought she would make with one afternoon feeling up coral, and now she had an interesting, if perhaps a useless thought: If one saturated a rock such as this with chakra, could they guide it through that conduit for medical chakra? It stood to reason that one could augment the tensile strength of an object through raw unnatured chakra, and augment the strength of one’s muscles in utilizing said object, but that was usually where the line was drawn. Swords were used usually with elemental chakra if one was thinking about a conduit…Probably chakra strings would be easier, but it was still a fun little inquiry.

Come to think of it, why did chakra have to be placed down in patterns for fuuinjutsu to work as intended? Was it nothing more than a set of foci? Was it an indication of will, and if so why did it matter what set of shapes were drawn in ink? What would be the barest minimum set of lines to make an observable effect?

She made a mental note to try some experiments while she packed the tank into a scroll and rocked on her heels into a sprint. She quickly went home to shower off the sweat and earth that came from a long day’s training and then came her favorite part of the day.

It was time to go bother Shikamaru for dinner.

She slipped into the Nara Compound with the ease of familiarity, avoiding the dangerous pitfall of the herd of deer waiting for treats. She crept down the hallway into his room and settled on the corner of his bed.

He was settled facing away from the door at his desk and acknowledged her entry into his peripheral vision with a grunt.

“What’s got you so moody?” she asked as she lay back, propping herself up with her elbows.

“Otou-san wants me to go with him to his meeting with the daimyo later this month. He feels that a request for aid should be made in person, and that I should be well acquainted with the Thirteen.”

“Ah. Court tends to be troublesome indeed,” she smirked, her cheek rested on one of her raised shoulders.

She picked at his crumpled blue sheets as he turned to face her. “How long will you be gone for?”

He kicked his chair to roll in her direction, leaning against the edge of his bed and grunted again.

“Don’t know yet?”

She traced her nails over the exposed skin of the back of his neck and smiled when he leaned into her touch. Green chakra burst to life at her fingertips. It always felt wonderful to have his trust. The neck was such a delicate area, and some ninja close to her- like Kakashi-senpai- would never allow her such nearness. He would trust her with his life, but some things were too close for comfort. That man needed therapy.

“Ugh… you have no idea how good that feels.”

“Mmmm, I think I can imagine.”

They stayed like that for another minute before he said, “I was born to do this, raised to do it, but I’m so… scared I will mess up.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Sakura was intimately familiar with the way his bicep bunched as he did. _That’s not kinda sexy, Bad Sakura! He’s here opening up and you are ogling._

“I’ve known you my whole life, Shika. I don’t think there’s anyone in this village that could do a better job than you,” she said.

“I know, but it’s still very-“

“Troublesome,” she finished with him. “I know,” she said seriously, “but you are capable of so much more than you think. Don’t get bogged down in these insecurities. I believe in you.”

His breath almost hitched as the green chakra stopped and her bare fingers continued moving. Mindlessly caressing, soothing, neck to shoulder to graze over exposed collarbone. He had better control than that. He swallowed, tamping down the sudden nerves. _Get ahold of yourself, she doesn’t mean it that way._

“Thanks, Sakura.”

She smiled behind his spiky ponytail.

“Now, it’s Thursday night and you owe me dinner.”

“What’s all of this ‘owe’ business? You’re so demanding.”

“Oh Shika, you wouldn’t know what to do with a woman if she didn’t tell you upfront,” she teased. “And you owe me for the chakra massage.”

He rolled his eyes. “Then tell me upfront: here or a restaurant?”

“But if we went to a restaurant, you wouldn’t have to cook for me,” she pouted. “You know I always prefer your delicious home cooking. Besides, last time we went out to a restaurant, Ino and Chouji swooped in and left us with the bill.”

“Good point.”

 

* * *

 

 

Friday saw her settling in at the hospital with Ino, making their usual rounds.

Sakuya had somehow found his way beside them, asking questions while they walked. Sakura was careful not to lead him anywhere near what used to be the gastro-ward. _He’s so small and innocent. I can’t even remember being like that,_ she thought.

“So how is the Academy treating you, young man? Pretty rough starting out, ne? And how is your Junko-chan?”

Ino winked at Sakura.

“She’s not mine! And the Academy is fine, I was second person to call up chakra during my medication,” he declared proudly.

“Meditation, squirt,” Ino interjected.

“Right, meditation! And don’t call me squirt! Anyway, Junko beat everyone in class. The teacher said she might was the first person. Did I tell you she has green hair?”

“Ooh? So you think she’s pretty cute, ne?”

“I-I guess so.”

Sakura smirked behind her hand, “Ino don’t tease him too much.”

“Fine, fine. What about you, then? How’d your Thursday night date go with Shikamaru, hmm? Did you finally get to first base?”

Sakura slapped her arm, “What the hell, Pig? You know Shika and I don’t have anything like that going! We are just friends. Partners.”

“You say you’re partners but you haven’t gone out on a long mission with him since you were chunin. Get a grip Forehead, you only call each other that because you don’t want to say ‘boyfriend and girlfriend.’ It’s your way of making a claim.”

“Don’t say that _please_ , it really is not like that at all. No matter how many times I tell you it’s not like that you always have to tease me,” She groaned.

“What are friends for?”

“Saku-nee, you like Shikamaru-nii? Like, like like?”

“Sakuya-kun, can you please pass me the chakra paper?”

Sakuya obligingly handed her the paper from his Special Assistant Clipboard. Sakura reached for her calligraphy brush and began scribbling.

“You are avoiding the question of a sweet little boy, Sakura. Your darling Sakkun.” Sakura glared at Ino in lieu of a response and tagged the underside of a patient’s bed.

“What did you put on the bed, Saku-nee?”

“It’s a monitor tag. This patient is one of the ones who tend to run away when they wake up, so I made a special little alarm so that if they leave without me deactivating it, I'll know and can beat them up.” Ino rolled her eyes but let it go, running her green lit hands over the unconscious patient.

“That’s cool!”

“I know right?”

Sakura and Sakuya continued down the hall, heedless of Ino, who had to actually treat the young chunin who was now a passed out prisoner of his own bed.

“Quick,” Sakura whispered to her lavender shadow. “Let’s ditch her.”

“I heard that!”

“Okay,” said her adorable cherub as he slipped his small hand into hers, “but you gotta teach me how to do that seal thingy.”

“Ah, a young man after my own heart. You keep that enterprising spirit at all times, Sakuya-kun.”


End file.
